Tuesday, May 15, 2012

England loves soccer. English soccer teams play in the Premier League (PL).

Two of the biggest soccer teams in the PL are two of the bitterest rivals: Manchester City, known as “Man City” and Manchester United, known as “Man United.”

Last weekend, one of the most exciting games in the PL took place… and it came down to the final moments. It was a game that would decide who took home the cup.

If Man City won its game against the Queens Park Rangers, Man City would end up with more points than its rival, Man United. In that case, Man City would win its first PL championship in 44 years.

However, a win wouldn’t come easy.

At the end of “regulation play,” Man City was losing 2-1 to the Rangers.

If the game had stopped after regulation play, Man City would have lost. But, thanks in part to some unsportsmanlike conduct by one of the Rangers players, extra time was added on to the game; it was enough time for Man City to pull off a dramatic win.

Here’s what happened. After 90 minutes of “regulation time,” soccer games usually go into “stoppage time.” Stoppage time is time that’s added to a soccer game, to make up for lost time. Lost time is time that has been wasted during the game for things like substitutions, goal celebrations, injuries, fan horseplay or players fighting. The referees decide if, and how much, stoppage time will be added to a game.

In this case, Joey Barton (who used to play for Man City but now plays for the Rangers), elbowed an opponent and was thrown out of the game. He wasn’t happy about that, and took longer than normal to leave the field.

Because of that, the referees added five minutes to the game.

Thanks to Barton, Man City not only ended up playing a Rangers team with only 10 players instead of the usual 11, but they had five extra minutes to try to pull off a win.

And Man City made the most of those five minutes. Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero wrote themselves into club history with one goal each, to cement an exhilarating 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Rangers.

In one of the most exciting finishes ever, Man City snatched its first title in 44 years.

The soccer-mad city of Manchester can boast its greatness by having two excellent soccer teams. On Sunday, though, it was the Man City players and fans who were the loudest and proudest of all.